Article 4. Food Crop Growing of California Health And Safety Code >> Division 104. >> Part 6. >> Chapter 11. >> Article 4.

The Legislature finds and declares that the people of the State of California have a primary interest in the sanitary conditions under which food crops are grown and harvested for human consumption and in the health and related sanitary conditions under which the workers are employed in the growing and harvesting of food crops. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the provision of sanitary and handwashing facilities for those employed in the growing and harvesting of food crops is necessary to the preservation of sanitation and health and that facilities are necessary to maintain the dignity of workers.

For the purposes of this article "food crop" shall mean all fruits and vegetables intended for human consumption.

For the purpose of this article "food crop growing and harvesting operation" shall mean any field activity or operation wherein a food crop is grown and harvested, where five or more employees are working as a crew, unit, or group for a period of two or more hours.

Every employer shall provide or cause to be provided toilet and handwashing facilities for every food crop growing and harvesting operation.

Employees shall use the toilet and handwashing facilities provided.

Toilet facilities shall provide privacy and shall be so designed as to keep human excreta from contaminating the crop and to keep flies away from the excreta. Toilet paper shall be provided. Toilet facilities shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition.

Handwashing facilities shall be such as to afford an opportunity to wash hands in clean water using soap or other suitable cleansing agent and to dispose of used wash water without nuisance or contamination of food crop.

Toilet and handwashing facilities for food crop harvesting operations shall be provided at convenient locations. For the purpose of this article "convenient" means within a five-minute walk of place of work. When, because of layout of access roads, ground terrain, or other physical conditions, it is not possible to comply with the foregoing requirement, toilet and handwashing facilities shall be located at the point of vehicular access closest to the workers.

(a) Except as provided in Section 18930, the department, after consultation with the State Departments of Food and Agriculture and Industrial Relations, may make and adopt reasonable regulations in accordance with this article pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code and may adopt and submit building standards for approval pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18935) of Part 2.5 of Division 13. The regulations shall be at least as effective as those adopted pursuant to Section 6712 of the Labor Code.
  (b) No part of this article shall be construed to abridge or limit in any manner the jurisdiction of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health pursuant to Division 5 (commencing with Section 6300) of the Labor Code.

(a) The primary responsibility for enforcement of this article shall be vested in the local health officers; county agricultural commissioners may participate in enforcement. The State Departments of Health Services, Industrial Relations, and Food and Agriculture may also enforce this article.
  (b) Any agency enforcing this article shall report any violation to all field offices of the Employment Development Department located in the county where the violation occurs. The report shall identify the employer responsible for the violation, the nature of the violation, and the location of the food crop growing and harvesting operation where the violation occurs. The Employment Development Department shall not refer persons for employment to any employer or food crop growing and harvesting operation identified in the report until the agency reporting the violation certifies that the violation has been corrected.

Any person who knowingly and willfully violates any of the provisions of this article, or of the regulations adopted under this article, is guilty of a misdemeanor.